Fire performers who swung flaming poi and spun with fiery hula hoops during June's first Allentown FreakOut Festival, will return for a free encore show at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Joseph S. Daddona Lake and Terrace near 20th and Walnut Streets in Allentown. "In the Heat of the Night" features more than a dozen performers from the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and Baltimore, including Matt Vasallo, John M.O.D., Madame Morah, Johnny Sticks and Firefly. They'll show their skill at poi, in which they swing around two balls attached by a chain and set on fire.

"Pinkalicious The Musical" was such a hit at the State Theatre, Easton, last year, that it's back for more shows. The one-hour stage show based on the best-selling children's picture books by Elizabeth and Victoria Kann will be presented at 11 a.m.and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 16. The story follows a little girl named Pinkalicious, who can't stop eating pink cupcakes despite warnings from her parents. Her pink indulgence lands her at the doctor's office with Pinkititis, an affliction that turns her pink from head to toe — a dream come true for this pink loving enthusiast.

A sell out of Sunday's premiere of "365 Days: A Year in Happy Valley" has resulted in a second screening of the documentary at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema in Bethlehem at 7:15 p.m. Jan. 12. Written and produced by Eric Porterfield and directed by Erik Proulx, the film explores the state of Penn State and State College in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scancal. Porterfield, a Penn State resident and master's program grad, asks new questions about the handling of the scandal and the treatment of coach Joe Paterno, and highlights the resolve of those who live in and cherish Happy Valley.

A sell out of Sunday's premiere of "365 Days: A Year in Happy Valley" has resulted in a second screening of the documentary at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema in Bethlehem at 7:15 p.m. Jan. 12. Written and produced by Eric Porterfield and directed by Erik Proulx, the film explores the state of Penn State and State College in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scancal. Porterfield, a Penn State resident and master's program grad, asks new questions about the handling of the scandal and the treatment of coach Joe Paterno, and highlights the resolve of those who live in and cherish Happy Valley.

By Myra Yellin Outwater, Special to The Morning Call | August 18, 2010

Usually Civic Theatre produces a musical revue or a staged concert reading as its summer offering, but this year Civic's Artistic Director William Sanders is trying something new. He is staging an encore of "Rent," the theater's successful May production. And this weekend the entire cast will return for a three-night run. "We had over 5,000 theater-goers see the show the first time around," says Sanders. "And when I heard that the entire cast was available, we decided to bring it back.

By Myra Yellin Outwater, Special to The Morning Call | January 30, 2013

Tony Lauria has been a part of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding," since 1991, first as an actor playing Best Man, the Wedding Singer and the Bride's Ex-Boyfriend, and since 2002, as the director. On Jan. 31 the show returns to ArtsQuest Center's Musikfest Cafe for a two-weekend run and Lauria says he is excited to be making an encore visit so soon. "Tony n' Tina's Wedding" opened in New York in 1988 and ran through 2010, becoming the longest-running Off-Broadway show. Since then, touring versions have traveled and played in more than 100 cities worldwide in Japan, Australia and Europe.

A friend who had the privilege of studying with several important conductors, including the late Pierre Monteux, said he recently heard a radio discussion program in which someone imitated Monteux almost perfectly. Someone had asked Monteux why he never had an orchestra play encores, and the reply, according to the member of the discussion panel was, "I wanted to do the Bruckner 7th, but the boys were tired." Why audiences love encores is often mysterious. A good program of music is architecturally designed on a pattern in which a showy work, usually of what may be called a light nature, provides the ending.

HIP-HOP Only a few tracks into Eminem's fourth disc, the thought had already crossed my mind that "Encore" was just another way of saying rehash. Arguably the best rapper on the planet seemed content to recapitulate his already well-documented low-rent Detroit past as a fatherless kid with an abusive mom, immersed in a yo-yoing love-hate relationship with an unstable girlfriend, derided by blacks and whites because he wanted to rhyme, etc. But soon...

Unfortunately, there will be no encore performance for the Hawks of Saint Joseph's despite putting on a terrific performance. But surely the Saint Joe's athletic department will be receiving congratulatory letters and e-mails from people who appreciated watching a guard-oriented and immensely entertaining Hawks team play for 32 games. And lose only twice. A missed jump shot by Jameer Nelson with a second left, enabled Oklahoma State of the higher-profiled Big 12 to finally put away the Hawks of the less-appreciated Atlantic 10 in the East Rutherford Region final, 64-62 Saturday night at Continental Airlines Arena.

Reels on Wheels, an encore selection of 12 documentaries, narratives and sneak preview films from the Philadelphia Film Festival, will be shown Monday through Wednesday at three regional theaters. COUNTY THEATER 20 E. State St., Doylestown 215-345-6789, www.countytheater.com MONDAY "David and Layla': American romantic comedy about a Jewish man who falls in love with a Muslim woman, and how they work it out with both families. 7 p.m. This Film Is Not Yet Rated: A witty but ultimately scathing documentary, an indictment on the movie ratings system's bias between studio pictures and independent films.

Ellie Laubner of Allentown has been on a 30-year quest to acquire clothing and accessories that reflect the styles, events and sociological changes of the big and bold era of the Flappers. Her collection from the Roaring '20s, an era identified by jazz music and prohibition, is on display at the Allentown Art Museum in "Fabulous Flappers," in the Scheller Gallery through April 14. The exhibit includes evening gowns draped in beads, silky-soft lingerie, embroidered shawls, authentic bridal wear and accessories such as hats, purses and cigarette holders.

By Myra Yellin Outwater, Special to The Morning Call | January 30, 2013

Tony Lauria has been a part of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding," since 1991, first as an actor playing Best Man, the Wedding Singer and the Bride's Ex-Boyfriend, and since 2002, as the director. On Jan. 31 the show returns to ArtsQuest Center's Musikfest Cafe for a two-weekend run and Lauria says he is excited to be making an encore visit so soon. "Tony n' Tina's Wedding" opened in New York in 1988 and ran through 2010, becoming the longest-running Off-Broadway show. Since then, touring versions have traveled and played in more than 100 cities worldwide in Japan, Australia and Europe.

It's become something of a fad for aging rockers to sing standards – Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney chief among the culprits. But Glenn Frey, singer and guitarist for 1970s soft rockers The Eagles, has embraced the idea in a way that neither of the others did, as he showed at a concert Friday at the new Sands Bethlehem Event Center. Rather than take a modern approach to the songs or to bend them to his style, Frey has immersed himself in the music. And in a 20-song, 95-minute show, he not only sang eight songs from his new standards album "After Hours," but took some of his solo songs and Eagles hits with him. Backed by a nine-man band, Frey started the show with a trio of Eagles hits, each more or less faithful to the original versions, with nice harmonies, though obviously not as good as The Eagles.' He opened with "Peaceful Easy Feeling," with him on acoustic guitar.

On Sept. 12, 2001, a plume of ugly gray smoke still hovered in an otherwise cerulean sky over what had been the World Trade Center inNew York City. Less than 100 miles away, at the Williams Center for the Arts at Lafayette College in Easton, the healing had begun. One day after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn was performing an all-Beethoven recital to a packed house . As remarkable as the fact that the concert took place at all was the program itself.

By Myra Yellin Outwater, Special to The Morning Call | August 18, 2010

Usually Civic Theatre produces a musical revue or a staged concert reading as its summer offering, but this year Civic's Artistic Director William Sanders is trying something new. He is staging an encore of "Rent," the theater's successful May production. And this weekend the entire cast will return for a three-night run. "We had over 5,000 theater-goers see the show the first time around," says Sanders. "And when I heard that the entire cast was available, we decided to bring it back.

"How Do You Keep The Music Playing?" For Tony Bennett, all you need is 3,045 appreciative fans. At the Allentown Fair on Sunday night, the fairgrounds grandstand audience brought Bennett back for a 15-minute encore that proved the show's highlight. "Everybody with babysitters, go home," Bennett joked. "We're going to keep on going." And so he did, bookending with "Fly Me To The Moon" (he opened with "That Old Devil Moon"), and returning for three encore songs, including Michel Legrand's "Keep The Music Playing."

Fire performers who swung flaming poi and spun with fiery hula hoops during June's first Allentown FreakOut Festival, will return for a free encore show at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Joseph S. Daddona Lake and Terrace near 20th and Walnut Streets in Allentown. "In the Heat of the Night" features more than a dozen performers from the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and Baltimore, including Matt Vasallo, John M.O.D., Madame Morah, Johnny Sticks and Firefly. They'll show their skill at poi, in which they swing around two balls attached by a chain and set on fire.

It is among the first questions asked the minute the trophy finds the arms of a champagne-soaked manager: Can you repeat? Whatever the manager's answer, the result lately -- as it has played out on the field -- has been a predictable one: No. The New York Yankees were the last to back up their celebratory promises, putting together a three-peat that ended in 2000. A National League team hasn't done it since the Big Red Machine trotted out a Hall of Fame lineup in Cincinnati and won consecutive World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.